Injured Temecula cheerleader to sue district

A Temecula Valley High School cheerleader is preparing to sue the school district because of an accident during a homecoming stunt that left the 17-year-old girl with a traumatic brain injury that she may never recover from, her attorney said.

“The district is going to be liable for negligent conduct of its employees,” attorney Randall Walton said after the district denied the girl’s claim. “In this case, the cheer leading coach was reckless. He required dangerous stunts that he knew could cause harm and in this case, the (girl) suffered a brain injury that could be permanent because of his recklessness.”

Senior Heather Arnzen, 17, was the rear spotter during a stunt that requires three to four cheerleaders hoisting another cheerleader into the air. Walton argues that a number of negligent conditions led to Arnzen slipping on a wet dirt track as she moved to catch a teammate who ultimately crashed on top of her, causing her “head to hit the hard ground with such a force that she remembers none of the event and only very little of the following days.”

Chief among those conditions, Walton said, was former cheerleading coach Revan Jebrail -- who has since resigned on his own volition, district spokeswoman Melanie Norton said -- not requiring the acrobatic stunt to be performed on a mat, grass or rubberized track surface as outlined in the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches & Administrators’ high school rules.

Walton said safety mats were used throughout the 2011 season. In 2012, however, Walton said the coach said he was not using the mats “unless somebody complained and somebody made them use them.”

Although Norton confirmed that Temecula Valley’s program does follow that body’s rules, she said it did not have a specific policy in place. Norton added that the district could not provide further comment due to the pending litigation.

Walton also said the track had been watered down -- unbeknownst to the cheerleaders -- to control dust during a September homecoming game.

Attempts to reach Jebrail were unsuccessful.

Arnzen was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center after the accident and was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. She returned to school in January and plans to graduate with her friends, her mother, Noelle Arnzen said. She said her daughter still experiences symptoms commonly associated with brain injuries, including memory loss, personality changes and a loss of the sense of taste.

Today, her daughter doesn’t come close to resembling the girl who used to juggle performing and coaching positions on various cheer and song teams while maintaining good grades in the classroom, Noelle Arnzen said.

“She is overwhelmed by the most minor of things, like attending school for a few hours a day,” said Noelle Arnzen, adding that her daughter will likely never perform as a cheerleader again. “She comes home and sleeps and she might sleep 12 hours straight. … It's been very life-changing and tough as a mom and as a family.”

Walton declined to say how much he was seeking in damages.

“(The girl) has been under medical care and monitoring … since the date of her injury, and continues to cope with the side effects of her brain injury every day,” Walton wrote in the claim. “She was unable to return to school until recently and missed several months of her important senior year. She has been advised that she has a very long road ahead of her and may never fully recover.”